Amarula Malva Pudding

I have a new favourite food to cook on a braai fire – any sort of sweet, yummy dessert! Like this malva pudding with a twist – amarula sauce. My freaking word, it was AMAZING! But it should come with a warning, because it was WICKEDLY boozy, people 😀

I bought another cast iron pot last December (I should do a post devoted to my cast-iron cook-ware, I think I must have about 20 pieces, and I love them all). This newest member of my pot family is a little, round, flat-bottomed pot with a flat lid which has a rim to pile coals on top of – this makes it ideal for baking, as the heat from the top browns cakes, breads and puddings. It works brilliantly, and I have dedicated it to sweet foods, as savoury dishes do flavour the cast iron for a while (like the curry flavoured meilie-pap we had for breakfast one morning, cooked in the big cast iron pot the night after the curry chicken supper – very strange).

Malva Pudding (malva is Afrikaans for marshmallow, which describes the pudding well – light and spongy), is possibly the most traditional of South African puddings. Every home has a favourite recipe, passed down through the family, and nearly every restaruant in SA will have a malva pudding on the dessert menu.

This recipe has two twists – it’s baked over the braai coals (although I suspect that’s how it was made originally, by SA’s first caravaners – the Voortrekkers), and the rich creamy sauce is made with Amarula. It is easy to make, and quite delicious, and is just as easy to bake in the oven (bake at 180 deg C until golden brown, before pouring the sauce over whilst still hot).

Malva Pudding

½ cup of white sugar

1 egg

1 ½ Tbsp apricot jam (any jam, or even syrup, will work)

1 cup cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 cup of milk

With a wire whisk or egg beater beat together the sugar and eggs. You want the mixture to creamy and pale, so be patient and strong and beat it for as long as it takes. This step ensures a light, fluffy pudding and is very worth the effort!

Add the jam, flour, baking powder and salt, stir in until blended

Pour in the milk, sprinkle over the bicarb, and quickly whisk it altogether

Pour the batter into the small cast-iron baking pot, cover with the lid and place over moderate coals, and pile some hot coals onto the lid of the pot as well

Bake for about an hour, until golden brown and a sharp knife or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean

Whilst the pudding is baking, make the syrup

Remove the pudding from the heat, and using a fork, poke holes in top, then slowly pour over the syrup, giving it time to absorb it all – it will seem like too much syrup, but trust me, it isn’t, so stick to the recipe; it works and is delicious!

Syrup

¼ cup butter

1 cup of sugar

½ cup boiling water

1 cup of amarula

Pinch of salt

Melt the butter in a pot over the fire, then stir in all the other ingredients

We made it on Saturday in the oven, the recipe says 1 hour but after 15 mins it was starting to burn :), but I have got to say… I think this just became my favorite pudding! It was really easy to make and it tastes awesome!

Thanks, Tok! when I bake in my big cast iron pot which has a lid like your pot, we just pile some coals around the handle. Don’t know if that would work with your pot? You could also make a really thick tinfoil ‘lid’ to put some coals on. The main thing is not getting ash or coals in the food when you remove the cover! Let me know if you get it right!!

I showed hubby your post and he also likes the idea, we have quite a few Potjies, but none with a lip. The foil is a good idea, thank you.
I would love to see your others as well 😉
Meanwhile we wait for summer to arrive.

Just make this pudding in your oven, C – it’s a really good recipe. Substitute the amarula with any liqueur, or with milk (which is the original recipe). Let me know if you make it – I’d love to know what you think of it 🙂